By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The National Museum of Performing Arts of Korea will hold a special exhibition to showcase artifacts related to the performing arts used during the period of the Korean War (1950-53).
To mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the war, the museum will display some 60 historical objects, such as 26 photos capturing past performances, at the exhibition titled "The Korean War Memories and Traces of Performing Arts."
Noteworthy are the photos taken by the late Lim In-sik (1920-98), a military photographer, which will be made public for the first time. The photos were composed through the eyes of a local, atypical of most pictures from the era, which were taken by foreigners.
The exhibition is intended to commemorate the Korean soldiers who entertained civilians by performing and runs in line with the 60th anniversary of the National Theater of Korea's founding.
The museum said that usually photos related to the war portray the brutalities but the photos of this particular exhibit, which showcase Korea's performing arts history, are the only ones on the subject in existence.
The photos capture the scenes of concerts held by military bands that traveled around the nation to entertain war-plagued civilians.
The exhibition also includes books carried by soldiers, propaganda bills and songs that were popular during the war.
The National Theater of Korea opened the museum last year to preserve, collect and display performing arts materials.
The museum collects related materials and excavates lost and dispersed information from all areas of the performing arts to revive their meaning and significance.
To establish the museum, the theater renovated the Byeol Studio.
The museum is located on three floors, spanning 2,851 square meters, and consists of special and permanent exhibition halls, an archive room, storage house and educational room.
The permanent exhibition hall is divided into chronicled and theme-based sections. The chronicled exhibition section displays the history of Korean performing arts, including that of the national theater. It also chronicles Korean drama, dances, traditional opera and other traditional, musical genres.
The theme-based exhibition section showcases the stage costumes, the artists' rooms, stage designs and props.
"The Korean War Memories and Traces of Performing Arts" exhibition will run from May 7 to July 31.